Wine Reviews from 2012 Niagara Icewine Festival

During the 2012 Niagara Icewine Festival, I had the opportunity to taste many wines. Most of them were (obviously) sweet, but I was able to taste a few dry table red wines and white wines. Below, you will find  tasting notes of some of the wines I tasted.

The best Icewine of the bunch was, by far, the Chateau des Charmes Riesling Icewine. Among dry wines, I look forward to getting my hands on the Legends Estate Shiraz and serving with goat curry. I'm also looking forward to the GreenLane Cabernet Sauvignon, when it's ready.

CHÂTEAU DES CHARMES ALIGOTÉ 2009 - Estate Btld, VQA (#284950) (XD) - $10.65
Crisp apple, floral, grassy. A tinge of butter. Light, easy drinking white wine reminds me of a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and an unoaked Chardonnay. Quite nice.

CHÂTEAU DES CHARMES RIESLING 2008 - Estate Btld, VQA (#061499) (D) - $12.55
Lovely floral aromas. Mineral, slate and petrol on the palate. Crisp acidity allows it to be paired with meals. Off-dry and delicious.

CHÂTEAU DES CHARMES GENERATION SEVEN WHITE - VQA (#197988) (D) - $13.95

Soft, easy drinking white wine featuring aromas and flavours of kiwi, grapefruit and floral notes. Good "food wine" with balanced acidity.

CHÂTEAU  DES CHARMES GAMAY NOIR 2008 - Estate Btld, VQA (#057349) (XD) - $12.55

Smoke, dark fruits, white pepper, herbal aromas with a touch of cherry. All follow through on palate, with dark fruits dominating; pepper on the mid-palate. Medium-bodied red wine.

CHÂTEAU DES CHARMES 'OLD VINES' CABERNET-MERLOT 2006 - Estate Btld, VQA (#222372) (XD) - $19.95
Notes of currant, cassis, mint, oak and chocolate. Smooth and silky tannins make their presence felt. Tastes expensive.

CHÂTEAU DES CHARMES RIESLING ICEWINE 2007 - VQA, Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard (S) (375 mL) - $65.00

Seductive aromas of honey and apricot that follow through on the palate. Very good acidity that will allow this Icewine to be paired with a meal. Outstanding offering that is excellent right now, and could rested for up to 5 years. Buy online

CATTAIL CREEK SELECT LATE HARVEST VIDAL 2008 - VQA Ontario (MS) (375 mL) - $20.95
Mild honey, apricot, petrol aromas and flavours. Acidity a touch strong, providing harsh experience.

PONDVIEW VIDAL ICEWINE 2010 - VQA (S) (200 mL) - $25.15

Strong burnt honey aromas and flavours leaving tingling sensation in mouth. Some apricot notes. Strong acidity. Serve with mild blue cheese.

PONDVIEW CABERNET FRANC ICEWINE 2009 - VQA (S) (200 mL) - $35.10
Strong nose of red berries - strawberry and raspberry dipped in sugar. Pairs well with chocolate and acidity strong enough for meal pairing. Buy here

RIVERVIEW CABERNET FRANC ICEWINE 2010 - VQA (S) (375 mL) - $59.95

Full of strawberry and honey notes. Not too sweet; serve with milk chocolate or light cheese. Buy direct

JACKSON-TRIGGS GRAND RESERVE CABERNET FRANC ICEWINE 2007 - VQA (#264325) (S) (200 mL) - $19.95 (from JT website)

Aromas of raspberry. Intense flavours of sweet red berries interplay with some raisin and fig notes. A deal at $20.

PELLER ESTATES VIDAL and OAK AGED VIDAL ICEWINE - VQA (S)

Both were outstanding - delicious honey, apricots, mineral/petrol, with the Oak Aged having more peppery, spicy notes.

GREENLANE RIESLING ICEWINE 2008 - VQA (S) (200 mL) - $29.95

Honey, citrus and candied lime aromas. Lovely honey and candied fruits on the palate. Balanced wine that pairs well with (blue) cheese.

GREENLANE GREETINGS CABERNET MERLOT 2007 - VQA (#256271) (XD) - $12.95
Cassis, herbal, spicy notes. Ripe, round wine that has some tannin grip, but is easy drinking. Would match well with a wide variety of foods.

GREENLANE GREETINGS CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007 - VQA (XD) - $23.95
Dark fruit, spice and hints of chocolate. Very tannic and needs more time to develop, but has excellent potential.

LEGENDS ESTATES SHIRAZ RESERVE 2006 - VQA (XD) - $19.95
Lots of smoky, pepper notes. Full bodied. Beautiful Shiraz made for lamb. Buy here

LEGENDS ESTATES VIDAL ICEWINE 2006 - VQA (S) (375 mL) - $39.95
Thick and syrupy with the usual honey, apricot aromas and flavours. A little low on sweetness for my taste.

MAGNOTTA VIDAL HARVEST MOON 2010 - VQA (MS) (750 mL) - $9.95
Medium-sweet wine with orange and tangerine on the nose. Passionfruit and apple on the palate. Tangy. Buy here

MAGNOTTA CANADIAN PASSITO VIDAL 2006 - VQA (MS) (375 mL) - $14.95
Another medium-sweet offering with melon, apricot, honey, floral and some raisin notes. Pair with cheese.

MAGNOTTA VIDAL ICEWINE 2008 - VQA (#587154) (S) (375 mL) - $29.95
Fabulous Icewine with honey, toffee, apricots and peach. Suitable for cheese and desserts. Great value!

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Henry of Pelham Reserve Off-Dry Riesling 2009 (Ontario) - Wine Review

This off-dry white wine is a perennial favourite of mine, as I've purchased the 2007 vintage 3 times (twice in 2008, once in 2009) and enjoyed it each and every time. Purchased recently from the Jan 21 LCBO Vintages release, this promises to be just as good...

HENRY OF PELHAM RESERVE OFF-DRY RIESLING 2009 - VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada (#557165) (MD) - $15.95

Tasting Note:
Candied lime, citrus, mineral, wax and petrol aromas. Tangy citrus, lime, with a slight touch of sweetness on the palate. Bright seam of acidity cuts through the middle. Off-dry. Could be cellared a few more years, but is definitely delicious now. Recommended if you like wines that are slightly sweet. Will be enjoying this with spinach & potatoes.

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California Cabs + Greek Revival: Feb. 4 LCBO Vintages Wine Picks

The next LCBO Vintages release is on Saturday, February 4th and the major feature in this release is titled "California Cabs". I find most Cabernets Sauvignons from California to be relatively high-priced and don't provide high QPR (quality-price ratio). However, the Sebastiani Cab Sauv did make my list of top wine picks.

Secondary feature of this release focuses on popular varietals from Greece. I've always enjoyed Greek wines and believe you will too! Some grape varietals to discover are the white Assyrtiko and Moschofilero (see Tselopos below), and the red grape Agiorgitiko.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, some sweet wine that won't break the bank would be nice. I've chosen two such wines that will satisfy you and/or your partner's sweet tooth.

The rest of the release features a few quality wines, including the 'Wine of the Month' Plunkett Fowles Shiraz. Jip Jip Rocks also made my list of wine picks for the second time in three releases.

If you try any of these, send me a note or post a comment and tell me what you thought. Enjoy my picks for this week! Cheers!


Red Wine:

• PLUNKETT FOWLES STONE DWELLERS SHIRAZ 2008 - Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria, Australia (#265967) (XD) - $19.95
• MAETIERRA DOMINUM QUATRO PAGOS 2005 - DOCa Rioja, Spain (#246660) (XD) - $19.95
• JIP JIP ROCKS SHIRAZ/CABERNET 2009 - Padthaway, South Australia, Australia (#186114) (D) - $16.95
• LA POSTA ANGEL PAULUCCI VINEYARD MALBEC 2008 - Mendoza, Argentina (#075515) (XD) - $15.95
• ALBINO ARMANI EGLE RIPASSO VALPOLICELLA SUPERIORE 2008 - DOCG, Veneto, Italy (#247916) (XD) - $15.95
• SEBASTIANI CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007 - Sonoma County, California, USA (#640573) (D) - $19.95

White Wine:

• BELJE GRAŠEVINA 2009 - Suho Vrhunsko, Croatia (#264200) (D) - $16.95
• JOSEPH CATTIN RIESLING 2010 - AC, Alsace, France (#259788) (XD) - $14.95
• SMALL GULLY THE FORMULA HELEN’S HARMONY VIOGNIER 2008 - Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia (#269332) (XD) - $19.95
• TSELEPOS MOSCHOFILERO MANTINIA 2010 - PDO, Greece (#724583) (D) - $16.95

Icewine:

• FLOURISH VIDAL ICEWINE 2008 - VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada (#222356) (S) (200 mL) - $17.95

Dessert Wine:

• COTNARI GRASA DE COTNARI 2009 - DOCC, Romania (#073205) (MS) - $12.95

The rest of the wines from this release can be found here. Enjoy!

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2007 Concha y Toro Winemaker's Lot 148 Carmenère (Chile) - Review

It's chicken fajita night. To celebrate, I turned to one of my favourite grapes: Carmenère. This little-known varietal is making its trademark in Chile and gaining popularity. Purchased in August, 2009 from the "Chile's Brilliant Showstoppers" release, it needed to be aged to soften the tannins and is now ready for primetime.

CONCHA Y TORO WINEMAKER'S LOT 148 CARMENÈRE 2007 - Las Pataguas Vineyard, Rapel Valley, Chile (#030957) (XD) - $16.95

Tasting Note:
Cork smells of plums, dark fruit and hints of raisin. Inky, smoky, chocolate, cassis, pomegranate and hints of mocha aromas from the glass. Cassis, herbal, white pepper, mocha, milk chocolate notes on the palate. Full bodied red with ripe tannins. Could be aged another 1-2 years, but can be savoured today. Recommended.

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2012 Niagara Icewine Festival - Review

Wow! What a weekend. By the time we were done mid-Saturday afternoon, I could not believe we were Icewine-d out! Here's why:

Our first stop was Château des Charmes for their mini Icewine glazed New York-style cheesecake and mocha cheesecake. Both were delicious and paired extremely well with the Icewine cocktail made with fruit juices. We also took in a tour of the facilities as we heard it is one of the best in the region. We heard correctly - it is very good and Rose is an excellent and entertaining tour guide. We also tasted quite a few of the wines and was extremely impressed with the 2007 Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard Riesling Icewine. Full review of this fantastic Icewine and other wines we tasted along the tour will be available in another post later this week.

Cellar at Château des Charmes

The next stop was nearby at Cattail Creek Estate Winery for some butter chicken. In a word - disappointing. The butter chicken was nothing like I had seen before - it was dry and mixed with rice, and I did not see/taste the mango chutney. It was also paired with the 2008 Select Late Harvest Vidal (the Official Icewine Festival booklet states 2006 Barrel Fermented Vidal Icewine). What happened? Seems like everything was off base here. Off to PondView Estate Winery...

"Fire and Ice" Wine Jelly

Two Icewines - Cabernet Franc in chocolate cup, and Vidal in glass. Both were very delicious. The Vidal Icewine was paired with a slice of baguette topped with blue cheese. The surprise was a cucumber topped with some cream (soft cheese?) and "Fire and Ice" wine jelly. Everything here was tasty with top-notch presentation!

Next up - Riverview Cellars Estate Winery for some homemade biscotti, and skewers of banana, strawberry & marshmallow - all dipped in a fountain of Belgian chocolate. Messy, but tasty. The Cab Franc Icewine was delicious, but it's flavours were drowned out by the chocolate. It was busy here! I also experienced for the first time the glass holder attached to the plate - it works, but I was nervous the whole time. :)

Icewine Marshmallow

Since we had some time, we made an unplanned visit to Peller Estates Winery for Icewine and marshmallows and wow! This was a hot spot, lots of people everywhere. Marshmallows were large, and took no time to crisp. How did they do that? Two Icewines were served - Vidal and the Oak Aged. Both were delicious!

Our final winery visit of the day was Jackson Triggs. Here, we sampled a few table wines, followed by the 2007 Cabernet Franc Icewine and the 2007 Delaine Vineyard Riesling Icewine. Both were impressive (and on sale)!

By now, we were quite Icewine-d out, but still had to check out the main event: The Icewine Village. Located on one block of Queen St. in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the street was buzzing with people sipping Icewine as they mingled outdoors from booth to booth and shop to shop. Many (if not all) Niagara-region wineries were represented. The ice sculptures were cool, but I felt a little bit more could have been done to make it more festive - perhaps some lights or colourful decorations?

Ice Sculpture at the Icewine Village, Niagara-on-the-Lake

On Day 2, as we made our way back home, we stopped at GreenLane Estate Winery for some gourmet grilled cheese. These two grilled cheese - one gorgonzola, the other cheddar - paired very well with their 2008 Riesling Icewine and red wine (2007 Cabernet Merlot?). Even though they were small-ish, they were very flavourful and filling.

Gourmet Grilled Cheese

Then, we made an unexpected stop at Legends Estates Winery for pulled lamb souvlaki. Wow! Another great appetizer that paired perfectly with their Reserve Shiraz, not so much with the Sauvignon Blanc. The Icewine for dessert was icing on the cake.

For our final stop, we visited Magnotta Winery for three sweet wines, paired with the classic: cheese. Amanda, our host for the tasting was very knowledgeable about the wines and winemaking process - you can tell she loves wine! We tasted the 2010 Vidal Harvest Moon, 2006 Passito Vidal, and 2007 Riesling Icewine. All three were delicious and paired well with the 3 cheeses offered: cheddar, friulano and blue cheese.

That's it for my review of the 2012 Niagara Icewine Festival. The festival will run one more weekend on January 28-29. If you enjoy Icewine, I highly recommend you go because the food and wine was fabulous.

You can purchase Discovery Passes on-site at any of the participating wineries. If you can hold back the urge, buy only 1 Pass and share the 6 tastings with your partner or loved one OR buy 2 passes and share 12 tastings. The weather looks like it will be pretty good this weekend too! Enjoy!

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Australia + Taste Treats: Jan. 21 Wine Picks

The second Vintages release of 2012 will be in LCBO stores across Ontario on January 21. Primary feature of this release is on Australia. However, I found the secondary feature titled "Taste Treats" to be much more interesting.

Taste Treats is about discovering 6 great grapes - Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Mencía, Monastrell (a.k.a. Mourvèdre), Montepulciano and Petit Verdot. Each of these grapes has its own style and should be discovered on their own (i.e. not blended) so you can taste what each has to offer. Five of these grapes made my wine picks (the Pétalos from Spain is made using Mencía).

The rest of this release has a few good value wines, including the 13th Street Merlot. I give much credit to Nero d'Avola because this was the grape that first got me into wine - it's worth discovering.

Enjoy my picks for this week. Let me know your thoughts if you taste any of these. Cheers!


Red Wine:

• 13TH STREET MERLOT 2010 - VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada (#270504) (XD) - $17.95
• CANICATTI AQUILAE NERO D'AVOLA 2008 - IGT Sicilia, Italy (#218503) (D) - $15.95
• CONCHA Y TORO SERIE RIBERAS GRAN RESERVA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2009 - Marchigue, Ribera del Tinguiririca, Chile (#256693) (XD) - $14.95
• IGNACIO MARIN OLD VINE GARNACHA 2008 - DO Cariñena, Spain (#214205) (D) - $15.95
• TALAMONTI TRE SAGGI MONTEPULCIANO D'ABRUZZO 2008 - DOC, Tuscany, Italy (#204016) (D) - $15.95
• DESCENDIENTES DE J. PALACIOS PÉTALOS 2009 - DO Bierzo, Spain (#675207) (XD) - $22.95
• SANTA CAROLINA BARRICA SELECTION PETIT VERDOT 2009 - Rapel Valley, Chile (#007484) (XD) - $14.95

White Wine:

• JEAN GEILER LIEU-DIT VOGELGARTEN PINOT GRIS 2009 - AC Alsace, France (#259739) (MD) - $17.95
• SPICE ROUTE CHENIN BLANC 2009 - WO Swartland, South Africa (#174623) (XD) - $17.95
• HENRY OF PELHAM RESERVE OFF-DRY RIESLING 2009 - VQA Short Hills Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada (#557165) (MD) - $15.95
• WEINGUT ZAHEL RIEDENCUVÉE GRÜNER VELTLINER 2010 - Wiener Lagen, Austria (#181594) (XD) - $15.95

Full list of wines from the Jan. 21 release is here.

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2010 Domaine de Rimauresq Rosé (Provence, France) - Wine Review

Who says you can't enjoy a rosé in the middle of Winter when it feels like -22°C outside? This rosé wine was purchased last December from the "Holiday Cheer" release.

DOMAINE DE RIMAURESQ ROSÉ Cru Classé 2010 - AC Côtes de Provence, France (#226647) (XD) - $18.95

Tasting Note:
Beautiful peach hue. Mineral, orange, lemon, and citrus aromas. Unexpected spicy flavours to start, followed by floral and citrus tones, and finishing with orange blossom nuances. Well made, dry rosé. Will be enjoying this with bhinda (video with Okra recipe, we also add potatoes).

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